Aazad Rajbhar, one of the accused in the double murder case of Hema Upadhyay and Haresh Bhambani, on Monday filed an application in the magistrate court seeking transfer of the case against him to a juvenile court. The magistrate has directed the investigation officials and public prosecutor to submit their replies by February 25.
The application was filed during the regular judicial custody hearing of all the accused. Judicial custody of all the accused (Rajbhar, Shivkumar, Vijay and Pradip along with Hema’s estranged husband Chintan Upadhyay) in the murder case was extended till March 5.
During the hearing Chintan again informed the magistrate about his back pain, and asked for medical assistance, to which the magistrate directed the public prosecutor to reply by February 25.
In the application seeking transfer of the case to a juvenile court, Rajbhar’s lawyer said his client is a minor and his date of birth is April 10, 1999. “At the time of occurrence of alleged offence the applicant was 16 years and eight month old,” reads the application. The lawyer in the application alleged that the police has not mentioned the correct age of the applicant and gave his wrong age to show him as a major.
The application says that since December 15 last year the minor is in custody, which is a violation of his fundamental rights. “Proceedings of the applicant be immediately transferred before juvenile justice board to avoid further injustice to the applicant,” reads the application. To prove the accused is a minor his lawyer has attached a copy of his Aadhaar card, class 10 mark sheet and school-leaving certificate in the application.
Rajbhar hails from Uttar Pradesh. His mother is the aunt of main accused Vidhyadhar, who had invited him to work in his workshop in 2015.
When this newspaper approached the investigating team of Kandivali police station, one of the officials said, “We will verify the claims and our officials will verify the documents (which states that he is minor) and if they are found to be true, we will hand over his chargesheet to the juvenile justice board.”
